What it means to be a Father
by Golden-Earth-Writer
Summary: A short story about Alister Azimuth. Certainly after two years of living with the guilt of almost killing Ratchet and the entire Universe inadvertently, I have tried to move on. It is funny how destiny can throw completely unexpected surprises at you out of nowhere. By sheer luck, my life was changed the day I met that boy. Note: If you read, please review. Thank you.


**My Father is a Lombax**

**"And here I sit marked by the second anniversary of the event that shall haunt me till the day I die."**

He sat in the pilot seat. The radio was playing as Alister was trying to keep himself from falling asleep. He had hardly slept at all in the last three days.

"And here is your favorite Space Pirate Captain bringing you only the hittest and latest in intergalactic music today..."

Alister sighed and reached for the knob cutting off the device. He was in no mood for the bolster of his societies racket that many people had labeled as music.

Aside from that, the only thing he had heard lately was the constant hum of the ships engine. Other than that he was a lone wolf

Being out in the emptiness of space, there was nothing but a quiet and eerie loneliness that could only be felt by those solitary ones who venture through the cosmos.

He turned his head looking ahead again.

**"It's not working. Why isn't it working!" He yelled.******

"Because it is not a time machine Alister! The Great Clock was never meant to alter time, only keep it."

"What! What is going on!" he almost screamed. He shook his head gazing back in front of him.

"It was, just another flashback."

He looked ahead.

"Another one..." he repeated. His voice was faint.

The elder continued onward. A loud beeping noise started coming from his front dashboard.

Alister saw it was a low fuel light.

He then was hit with the realization that he had no money left to speak of. And that would make it impossible for him to refuel his ship.

He then remembered that even if he had money he would not be able to innocently head to a fueling station and simply purchase it.

Alister Azimuth had one of the biggest bounties on his head out of the entire Polaris Galaxy.

He groaned.

"God damned Lord Vorselon!" he snarled.

He then gazed over to his right as something began to catch his attention.

"Hmmm... What might that be here?" he asked himself.

He looked over to his right outside the ship.

His eyes flared up with his rage as he saw a huge stationary freighter spaceship.

This isn't what pissed him off though. What pissed him off was that the owner of the ship was one of the people responsible for his public criminal record.

He very much considered the option of charging full head into the ship and finishing off the Terraklon assassin.

He started reaching for the control panel to punch in the coordinates to land, but then his reasonable side of thinking kicked in.

"Don't do it." he told himself.

He pulled his hand back and then took another good gaze at the ship.

"No..."

His voice turned fear-stricken.

"Is that Ratchet's ship?"

Hoping he was probably just delusional he shook and looked again to the docking bay of the ship.

"God Damnit ! You ignorant Lombax! Why did you have to go there!" he cried out.

"I don't care if have to kill you and drag you out of there myself. You are not going to fight Lord Vorselon today! I will be damned before that happens!"

Without a second to think about it again, he landed the ship and jumped out with his weapon in hand.

He kicked on his hoverboots and began moving on through the fortress ship. Several robotic gaurds with laser weapons, buzz-saws, and even full out turrents stood in his path.

"Typical." he grunted.

Without any regard about his own safety, Alister was fighting through the hoard. His adrenaline now was running at one-hundred percent, which made him a ruthless killing machine.

When it was all over, he stood there and saw the entire army now defeated.

"That was pathetic. Cyborgs and robotic armies. This is something I expect from trash." He grunted.

He began marching on through the corridors of ship. Down the hallway he saw countless metal doors that had barred windows in them all.

Alister took a closer look and saw that behind the doors were holding cells for prisoners whom he figured to be captured enemies, innocent tortured victims, ravenous bloodthirsty creatures his forces had caught, or people that had cruel experiments done on them.

Oddly enough none of the cells he had seen so far were occupied. At the end of the hallway he saw one of them occupied.

"Oh my god..."

He could only feel completely shocked by the sight in front of him when he looked inside.

Sitting inside the cell was a young human that was bound by metal-shackles to the wall.

Alister stared at the young individual. He was completely stripped of all clothing on his body and he was very skinny showing that he had been starved. A closer inspection would reveal that his ribs were showing.

Looking over at the other cells he discovered that the only one that had a prisoner in it was this one.

"Poor kid." he said to himself.

He then remembered that he had come here for Ratchet.

Alister started to walk off and suddenly felt a bit of guilt for not considering to even check if the kid was alive. He halted in his tracks.

Taking his wrench, he shoved it into the door and started to focus a beam of electricity at the point of the weapon blowing out the door.

He got ready to walk in when suddenly an alarm sounded throughout the ship.

"Sore loser self-destruct sequence initiated. One minute until self-destruction." A voice said.

"No..." he panicked.

He broke the shackles on the kid and caught him.

Upon seeing up closely for the first time, the elder saw that the kid's wrist and ankles had been shackled for so long that they had been rubbed raw.

The elder picked the child up very gently and held him in his arms.

"I'll bring this kid to Ratchet and Clank so they can get him some medical attention."

He stopped.

He suddenly remembered Ratchet and the things he had done to him. The guilt came rushing back and he instantaneously felt like his chest weighed a ton. Alister clenched the young human boy and sighed.

"I'm sorry Ratchet, but I died two years ago. After all that I put you through, I can't face you. You are better off believing me dead."

And with that the elder bolted off to escape the self-destructing ship.

One week later...  
Planet XDJ-4

Alister was at his new place on a planet he had found far away from the contact of the Bogon, Polaris, or Solona Galaxies.

"A week has passed and still not awake. I need to do something." he said.

He had been pacing back and forth for the last four hours engaging in a deep debate with himself to try and figure what to do.

He looked down extremely aggravated with himself. In a fit of rage and frustration he punched the wall hard and cleared everything off his desk ending it flying across his bedroom.

"Damn it!" he screamed.

A noise could be heard coming from the monitor he had placed in his room. Alister rushed into the bedroom and looked at the child. The young kid was groaning.

Alister went up to the bed and sat on it next to him. The elder looked at him. Slowly opening up his eyes, the kid looked around slowly taking in everything around him.

He moved his hands up and looked at them. He saw bandages covering all around his wrist.  
Before he could open his mouth for any words he looked down under the covers seeing he was also in some comfy clothes and that his ankles were covered in bandages as well. All of his wounds were treated.

He then for the first time made eye contact with the elder. Alister's worried look all but vanished when he saw the boy was okay.

"Where am I?" the kid asked. His voice was very weak and had a hint of fear in it. He was terrified because he had no idea what was happening.

"What is your name?" Alister asked.

"My name is Cameron." the boy answered weakly.

"Rest here Cameron. You need to recover. Do not worry here. You are safe."

Cameron nodded half-way feeling that he could trust him. He slowly fell back asleep.

Alister watched and got in the recliner in the corner not far from the bedside. He sat down and watched over him not leaving the boy out of his sight.

"At least I am good for one thing." he said to himself.

He gazed down at the boy. For some reason seeing the little kid safe gave him a reason to feel at peace. Alister looked outside his bedroom window starting to wonder in thought.

A thought crossed his mind and he gazed over at Cameron.

**"He reminds me of myself when I was that age."**

The elder chuckled at the thought. He gazed over at the clock.

_7:41 P.M._

Alister looked at the sunset and watched it slowly go down. Eventually he slowly started into a slumber in the recliner.

_The next morning..._

Alister woke up slowly. His eyes opened up and the first thing he saw was Cameron on the bed sprawled out asleep. He was clenching and holding the pillow like he would a teddy bear.

Alister smiled and laughed.

He got up and walked up to Cameron.

"Hey Cameron, wake up." he said. His tone was light

The child woke up and he looked at Alister. He looked at him wearily.

Alister stood up and sat on the bed again. Cameron started to tense at the presence of the big figure presiding over him.

"What's the matter Cameron?" he asked. Cameron shook his head no and Alister frowned.

"I need to ask you a few questions Cameron. First of all do you have any idea where you are from?"

Cameron shook his head.

Alister sighed.

"What about your time at Vorselon's?"

Cameron was silent with a lost expression on his face. Alister rubbed the back of his neck slightly sighing.

"The bad man who did all those bad things to you. The robotic figure..."

Cameron was still non-responsive.

He looked down.

"Don't come near me." he whimpered. Alister stopped and retreated back a few steps to give Cameron the space he wanted.

He remained quiet and curled up in a ball burying his head into his knees.

The elder still kept his eyes focused on him. After about thirty minutes he waited and the kid still did not move.

"Why can't I come near you Cameron?" he asked softly.

Cameron sighed. He looked at Alister and then down back in-between his legs as if they bore some kind of secret he was trying to hide from the world.

"Is there something you would like to share with me? Do you need anything?" Alister asked.

The kid gave him a cold dark stare simply telling him to back off. Alister sighed.

"I'm downstairs if you need me."

He walked off and gently closed the door to the room giving Cameron solitude.

Cameron eased up a bit and snuck down under the covers. Of all the things in the world right now he could feel, tired was the thing he felt the most.

Alister was downstairs and uneasy. He got up his wrench and put on his hover-boots. He walked down the stairs and out the door leaving the house.

Outside his house everything was quiet. He looked over at the landscape off the balcony on his front porch.

Alister pulled up his wristwatch and looked down at it. He entered a passcode on the screen and armed the security.

He took off on his hover-boots heading a short distance down the pathway to his house. There was a small town not far from where he lived.

The people on this planet were relatively simple. Their technology was far less advanced of anybody that he had seen in his lifetime. It was surprising when they welcomed him to the planet as a traveler. Space traffic was surprising and uncommon, but it wasn't unheard of there.

Alister looked around at the store and after a few hours he returned back to the house with some bags full of supplies.

When he walked inside, Cameron was downstairs on the couch crying.

Alister quickly rushed into the kitchen to set the bags down and then back to the couch where Cameron was.

"What is wrong?" he asked.

He reached for the boy and Cameron screamed. He sprinted upstairs to the bedroom, slamming the door shut.

He was leaning up against the door and slid to the ground sitting down. He was panting and shaking terrified. A knock came on the door.

"Cameron let me in now!" Alister demanded. His voice was furious.

The child didn't budge.

"No! You are going to hurt me like the bad man!" he screamed in reply.

Alister went silent. "No I am not. I am only here to help you. I was the one who saved you from him!"

Cameron did not listen.

"No you did not! That is what the first seven 'saviors' said to me when I was in that cell for the longest time. And I believed them. For a little while it all seemed to be getting better when one night when I am asleep this 'hero' gets me and hurts me more. It is just a way for the bad man to hurt me. This is just an act for me to let my guard down so that you can come hurt me later. It is not going to work on me anymore!"

He was crying very hard and began to hyperventilate. He was starting to cough and wheeze.

The elder felt helpless. He wanted to comfort the child, but he would not even trust him enough to let him near him. So trying to console him was out of the question.

"Cameron... I won't hurt you." Alister stated.  
He pushed against the door starting to open it. Cameron pushed back closing it.

Alister groaned and pushed it open half-way. Cameron knew he was going to be overpowered and backed up away from the door.

"Let me in!" the Lombax shouted.

He kicked open the door breaking it down. Cameron was crawling under the bed. It was the only place he had left to hide.

He walked in to see Cameron squirming to get under the bed.

"Oh no, you don't!"

He grabbed Cameron by the back of his collar and dragged him out from under the bed.

"Let me go!" Cameron screamed.

He was kicking and struggling to get free, but it was useless.

Looking at Alister, he swung his fist uppercutting him. Alister dropped him, but instead of flinching and pulling backwards he instead grabbed the kid and held him by the shoulder.

He pulled him closer and held him up against his chest with both arms.

"Let me go!" Cameron snarled.

He kept trying to resist Alister's immobilizing hold around his waist.

He finally quit when he realized that it was pointless to resist.

"Are you done yet?" Alister asked.

Cameron nodded and was still completely trembling. He looked directly up and Alister gazed down making eye contact with the child.

"Go on ahead and do your worse." Cameron whimpered.

The elder set him down.

Opening his eyes, he looked around.

"You are going to hurt me!" Cameron screamed.

Alister smirked.

"I have not yet hurt you at all have I?" he asked.

Cameron did not say anything. Alister gazed down at Cameron.

The boy retreated downwards into his chest.

He was still feeling nervous around Alister being this close to him.

"I'm not gonna hurt you." he said.

Cameron looked at him. He refused to believe him.

"Prove it..."

"Did any of your 'saviors' ever do this?" he asked.

The elder slowly sat down cross-legged with the boy now in his lap. He did not let him go.  
he brushed his muzzle over Cameron's face and neck nuzzling him.

The youth's face lit up when he saw the elder's face again.

"Please... do not do the other things." he exclaimed.

Alister looked at him.

"I do plenty of other things, but they are not what the bad men did to you." he reassured.

The kid sat gently in his lap and Alister kept his arms around him not letting go.

Cameron started to cry heavily.

"No..." he cried.

Alister frowned.

"Do not worry Cameron. I am here."

"How can I trust you?" Cameron asked.

Alister took his hand and put it up to Cameron's chin. He pushed up making Cameron look directly at him in the eyes.

"I can not make you trust me. I can't make you want my help. That is only something you can choose for yourself."

"I don't know..." he said, with a tone of unease.

"Here is something that might help you decide.  
Do you truly feel in your heart that you are safe with me?"

Cameron looked down.

"The ship was self-destructing and I found you chained up. I saved your life." he explained.

"I still do not know if I can trust you."

Alister sighed.

"Where else would you have to go anyways?" he asked.

The boy remained quiet.

"I don't have anywhere else to go. I have no idea who I am or where I am from." he answered.

"Give it some time."

The elder picked up the kid and set him on the bed tucking him in.

"Get some rest. You are still recovering from your injuries."

Cameron remained queit and turned over facing away.

Alister got up. "I will have supper ready soon."

The boy let out a groan and did not even answer. Alister left and headed downstairs into the kitchen.

A few hours later Alister had finished preparing the meal. He walked up the stairs holding a tray.

"Hey Cameron, I made you something to eat. You need to..."

He immediately stopped and stared in horror to find that Cameron was nowhere to be found.

"No!" he screamed. He looked over at the window seeing it open.

"Damn it!"

He raced downstairs, grabbed his wrench, put on his hover-boots, and frantically took off outside. He did a full sweep around the outside of the house for any hint of where Cameron could have gone.

"Cameron!" he called out. He waited a few seconds for an answer. He saw a few tracks heading down the dirt path to mountain trails north of the house.

"Cameron if you aren't dead when I find you will be dead then you will be dead when this is over!"

He was racing down the path at intense speed. He suddenly noticed something. The further he went down the path, the thicker the forest got.

Alister then came a clearing in the woods. He turned off his hover-boots and looked around seeing if he could find any signs of the child.

"Alister..." a muffled voice called from behind him.

The elder's ears flicked and he turned to see that nothing was behind him.

"Cameron!" he called back trying to get a response.

He waited a few more seconds trying to get a response.

"Above you!"

Alister looked above him seeing that Cameron .

"Cameron! Get down here now!" the elder ordered.

The boy put a finger to his mouth telling him to be quiet.

Alister could sense something was not right.

"Behind you!" Cameron warned.

The lombax turned behind him.

Growling could be heard coming from every direction around the clearing.

A group of several large creatures slowly prowled out of the trees and completely surrounded the all had the characteristics of a pack of wolves, the only difference was that they almost twice the size of a regular wolf.

The elder groaned. He readied his weapon.

All the wolves started to charge and pounce. Alister ducked and swung his wrench knocking back several of the beasts.

"Ow! Damn it!"

One of the wolves had tackled Alister and was on top of him biting at him literally trying get at his head.

Alister had the wrench blocking the beast and was struggling to throw it off of him.

"Ahh!"

He got a bite on his left ear by another wolf. The rest were starting to surround him and pretty soon they would be completely tearing him apart.

Cameron only watched in horror.

"He is risking his life for me again... He... He really does care about me."

Cameron started tearing up. "I have to do something or else he will be dead."

He looked around frantically and saw nothing. He figured he had no other choice.

Cameron got on the side of the tree and quickly climbed down. He accidentally lost his footing on it and fell.

"No!" he screamed.

He hit the ground hard and heard a huge snapping sound. Cameron screamed a bone-chilling cry of agony that could be heard for at least a mile away.

The pack suddenly turned their attention to Cameron. They suddenly figured a defenseless meal was easier than one that was fighting back.

They all started to walk towards him and encircle him.

Cameron struggled to get up when he realized the immediate danger around him.

"Nice doggie..." he said.

He was shaking all over and could not even get up.

Alister pulled out his wrench and it began to crackle with lightning bolts as it was focusing several thousand watts of energy inside it. He started to groan in pain as the excess emitted from it was starting tobe conducted into his body and down into the ground.

"Hey!" Alister called out to the creatures.

"That is my boy! And nobody touches him! Cameron duck!"

Cameron hit the ground and covered his head.

The elder had fully overloaded the staff with electricity to the point of where he could no longer hold it.

"Stay away from my boy!" he growled. He swung his weapons horizontally releasing a long thin stream of electricity. It was super-compressed with about five-thousand watts of energy.

Several of the creatures were hit directly by the blast and then several more were taken down as the electricity chained extended to all of them.

Alister shrunk his back to its retractable state and put it away. He raced up to Cameron and knelt down holding his head up with his arm.

"Cameron...Are you okay?" Alister asked with his voice shaky.

The boy's form was still for a second. He then opened his eyes slowly opened. The first thing Cameron saw when he opened his eyes was the elder's face looking down directly at him.

"Alister..." Cameron said weakly.

Alister gripped him closely and gently.

"I am here. Do not worry." Alister reassured him. He started stroking him closely and the kid stared blankly back at him.

"I am taking you back home. Do not worry. You are safe with me now. I will protect you."

Alister picked him up holding him in both arms. He kicked on his Hoverboots and made his way back to the house. Once he reached home he sprinted inside and raced up into his room. He gently set Cameron on the bed and went to his closet opening it up.

He pushed through his clothes and pulled a package out from behind it.

He set it on the bed and opened it up. Cameron moaned in pain and started coughing. Blood spurted from his mouth spread all over him and the bed.

"Hang on Cameron. Hang on my dear boy."

The elder pulled out a long glass tube. Inside it was a glowing blue liquid.

"Cameron. Listen to me. I need to you drink this. It will make you feel better."

"Ugh..." the kid groaned.

Cameron nodded weakly. Alister took the top off the tube and he held it up to Cameron.

He placed it to his mouth and Cameron slowly swallowed the substance.

Alister pulled the tube back and sealed it. He put it back in the box. An odd sensation could be felt inside him as the liquid did what it was made for. His legs felt like it they were mending themselves together.

"That liquid is called Nano-Tech. It will help you feel better. You still have several injuries though, so relax and let me handle this."

Cameron nodded.

After Alister finished up treating their wounds, he sat down on the side of the bed.

"Why did you do that?" he asked flatly.

Cameron started to tear up. He began to cry and couldn't control himself.

"I thought you were going to hurt me. I did not know who to trust. I am so sorry. I didn't...

Alister put a fingertip up to his mouth stopping him.

"I understand. Next time just talk to me about it before running off and getting yourself endangered like that again."

Cameron looked down and nodded. He was still tense.

Alister sensed his uneaseness and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Is something bothering you?" he asked.

Cameron shook his head saying no. The elder stared at him.

"I know you are lying. Now tell me what is bothering you." he said sternly.

Cameron sighed and buried his head into the blankets.

"I...I...I wish I had a family. I don't even know about where I came from. I don't know who I am, or who my family was."

Alister looked down at him. He thought to himself for a second and then smiled.

"Hey Cameron. I have an idea."

The boy looked up at the elder.

"What?" he asked.

"How about I adopt you? You will be my son and we will be a family. Together."

Cameron was completely surprised by the idea. It seemed almost too good to be true.

"An actual family?" he asked. He was still stunned in disbelief gazing up at Alister.

The elder nodded and smiled looking back at him.

"So what do you say?"

Cameron smiled. He was eccentric.

"It's settled then. From now on you are my son." Alister smirked.

"Hey dad,"

"Yes my son?"

"Can you sleep with me for tonight? I don't want to be alone. Not anymore. I have been alone for too long."

Alister nodded. "Let me get ready for bed first. I will be back in a few minutes."

Cameron nodded and Alister walked out downstairs.

About ten minutes later he came back in his sleep boxers.

"Dad can you hold me?" Cameron asked.

Alister got into the bed and looked straight at him. The elder laid down on his back and placed Cameron on top of his chest.

Cameron looked directly at Alister in the eyes. He smiled and then buried his head underneath the elder's neck. His body rested up against Alister's bare chest.

"Daddy..."

"Yes son?"

"Your chest is so soft and warm."

He chuckled. He took his hand and slowly rubbed the child's back. Cameron took one look up. Alister gazed down and they made direct eye contact.

They smiled. Alister took his arms and wrapped them around the boy holding him close.

Cameron kissed him on the cheek and fell asleep. The elder smiled at the sight of the content youth. He closed his eyes and then he kissed his son on the forehead.

"You make one hell of a kid." the elder mused.


End file.
